figure of speech
noun, plural figures of speech. Rhetoric.
any expressive use of language, as a metaphor, simile, personification, or antithesis, in which words are used in other than their literal sense, or in other than their ordinary locutions, in order to suggest a picture or image or for other special effect.
Compare trope(def 1).
Origin of figure of speech
First recorded in 1815–25
Words nearby figure of speech
figure eight,
figure eight suture,
figure in,
figure of eight,
figure of merit,
figure of speech,
figure on,
figure out,
figure skate,
figure skating,
figure up
British Dictionary definitions for figure of speech
figure of speech
noun
an expression of language, such as simile, metaphor, or personification, by which the usual or literal meaning of a word is not employed